Gods and Monsters
by FinnickOdair-Will-Live-Forever
Summary: Clove Bennett is the straight-laced future wife of a hotshot New York defence lawyer who puts her in place with harsh words and even harsher criticisms. Will a chance encounter at a cafe with New York cop Cato King lead her astray, despite what she knows she should feel? AU Clato.
1. The Meeting

**Hey guys. :) So this is basically a three or four chapter mini AU Clato fic. I hope to finish it within a week, and I hope you enjoy it. I don't own The Hunger Games.**

"Are you seriously going to marry that guy?"

Clove Bennett sighed as she twirled her spoon around in her latte. The café that she frequented every morning before work was usually quiet and filled with hopeful men and women penning their first novel or screenplay, or hurriedly catching up with work that should have been done the night before. Today, however, a larger amount of customers were scattered around drinking coffee and reading newspapers.

"Really, Katniss? This again?" She sighed again before picking up her mug to sip her coffee.

"Your wedding's in a week and I want to know if you're really sure." Katniss Everdeen shrugged, spooning cream from the top of her hot chocolate. She watched Clove, her best friend since their freshman days in Harvard, for a moment before reaching across the table and squeezing her hand.

"It's okay, you know. You don't _have _to marry him. Twenty five is still kind of young." She assured her.

"I want to!" Clove insisted, pulling her hand back sharply. "I wouldn't have been with him for five years if I didn't want our relationship to go anywhere?"

"So you're going to marry him and have kids with him and spend the rest of your life with him?" Katniss arched an eyebrow at Clove before going back to her hot chocolate.

"_Yes._" Clove groaned. "Why does everyone always question me? Colton's a good guy."

"Colton's a _dick_." Katniss snorted. In exactly seven days Clove was set to marry twenty seven year old Colton Hughes, one of the most successful defence lawyers of their generation. He was strict, rude, harsh to everyone he met and completely horrendously rich. Clove had been dating him since she met him in college when she was twenty and he was twenty two. He had proposed to her six months ago, by telling her that marrying her was something he had wanted to do ever since Judge Dorner, one of the most respected judges in New York, had told him that married lawyers were more successful in his opinion. Clove thought it sounded like bullshit, but how could she say no to the man that had stuck with her for five years?

"Not all the time." Clove defended. Her mother adored Colton. Something about the idea of the father of her future grandchildren being rich and successful got her happy in a way that Clove had never seen. Her older sister respected Colton; her brothers liked his sarcastic wit. Clove loved him, most of the time. He could be so sweet and thoughtful, giving her bouquets of flowers Belle Fleur and bracelets from Tiffany's. He would tell her how beautiful she was and he would show her off as the women with organization skills that had saved his life at his glamorous events. A few harsh words to her friends, raised eyebrows and criticisms were a small price to pay for the man who made her feel needed. So what if he stopped her from seeing her friends who hadn't gone to law school? He introduced her to his own friends, high up officials and award winning attorneys. So what if every now and again he would look at her with his left eyebrow raised and his lips pursed, telling her that she had done something wrong? She loved him, more than she loved herself.

"I think you can do better." Katniss said thoughtfully as she finished off her drink. Katniss was a prosecutor, and a damn good one. For every case she lost, she won five more.

"Well it's not really up to you, is it?" Clove snapped. Colton had been a game player from the start. First he had looked at Katniss, for her intelligence and her quick thinking during the cross-examination. Then had decided that Clove was who he wanted, with her organization and her near perfect prosecution record. She was a trophy that he carried on his arm. _Here she is. _He would say. _The best prosecutor in the state. _It always made her feel special, despite the fact that he was bigging himself up as much as he was her.

"Alright. Sorry I mentioned it." Katniss said, looking up as a group of three young policemen walked into the café.

"We should go." Clove sighed. "I don't want to be late."

"Of course." They shouldered their bags and stood up from their chairs.

"Oops." Clove walked into one of the young men who had just walked in. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright." He grinned at her. He had golden blonde hair and a dazzling smile.

"Um." Clove mumbled when she looked into his blue eyes.

"See you around." He nodded to her, dipped his hat, and stepped out of the way so that she could leave the café.

…

"She was gorgeous." Cato King gushed to his friends over coffee and chocolate croissants. "Did you see her?"

"She was pretty." Marvel Walker, one of Cato's colleagues from New York police department, admitted.

"You should go for it. You haven't dated anyone since you kicked Ella out last year." Finnick Odair, his partner, encouraged him. They were all wearing full uniform, an hour away from starting their shifts.

"No way. A girl like that's got to have some rich ex-prep at her every beck and call." Cato shrugged, downing his espresso. "She won't want anything to do with a guy who chases perps for a living."

"I think her suit cost more than my apartment." Marvel laughed before biting into his jam doughnut.

"If you think like that you'll never get anyone amazing. I managed to land Annie, didn't I?" Finnick's wife Annie Cresta was a popular actress, but the guys at the table all knew that even the queen of England would go for Finnick with his bronze hair and sea green eyes.

"She's gone now anyway." Cato shrugged, but the image of her clear blue eyes, glossy black hair, and smooth porcelain skin may as well have been imprinted on the insides of his eyelids.

"It's nice to see you're over Ella though. You moped for like four months after she cheated on you." Marvel smiled warmly at his long-time friend. Ella Carlisle had been Cato's girlfriend for a year, and they had been living together for four months when he kicked her out for cheating on him with lieutenant. She was a model with long blonde hair and shiny green eyes and the thought of her had made Cato feel sick with longing for a long time. Now, eight months later, he barely even cared. He was over her. When she had come crawling back to him begging for forgiveness, he had laughed in her face and sent her packing.

"She wasn't worth the trouble, man. She was always getting involved in some illegal shit and then making me lie to cover for her. I could have lost my badge for her. Not worth it." Cato's real dream was to be a detective. He was taking the exam in two months and he was studying like crazy for it.

"Look." Finnick pointed in the direction of the doors as the bell above them chimed. Cato turned around in his chair and watched as the black haired girl from earlier walked back into the café.

"I'm going for it." Cato decided. He stood up and walked over to where she was searching a table for something. She found it, a bunch of four silver keys, and turned around. She looked startled to find him watching him.

"Hey." He extended a hand. "I'm Cato."

"Clove." She his hand awkwardly. "And I'm late."

She frowned, and that was when he recognized her.

"Oh, I know you. You're that prosecutor, right? Engaged to that hotshot defence lawyer?" Cato asked, following her outside to her car.

"You know Colton?" Clove asked doubtfully.

"I think I've testified against his clients a few times." Cato said, the corners of his lips twitching upwards slightly.

"So you're one of the reasons he hates cops, then." She smirked, leaning against her white Maserati.

"Probably." Cato grinned. "That's a damn nice car."

"Thanks. It was a birthday present."

"My mother tends to just send me socks, but…"

"From Colton." Clove laughed. "I really have to go now, I'm late. But it was nice talking to you Cato."

She fished her phone out her pocket as she climbed in her car and started to make a call as she fired up the engine.

"You know, I could write arrest for that." Cato waggled a finger at her teasingly.

"I haven't started driving yet."

"Doesn't matter." He plucked the phone out of her hands.

"Hey!" Clove protested, reaching for it.

"Would you rather I arrest you?" Cato asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Clove scowled as he typed something into her phone before handing it back. His number had been added to her contacts under the name 'Cato King :)))))'.

"Uh, thanks. I think." Clove said, pocketing her phone after sending a quick text to someone.

"Give me a call if you ever need a date." Cato winked, slapped the side of her car twice, waved, and watched her as she drove away.

He liked her already.


	2. The Argument

**I don't own The Hunger Games.**

"Clove?" She heard her fiancé drop his keys and briefcase on the table. "I'm home."

"In the kitchen!" She called back, stirring red sauce that was bubbling in a pot.

"What are you cooking?" Colton asked, leaning against the doorframe. He was tall; a head taller than she herself was, with short platinum blonde hair that had been perfectly jelled back and sharp brown eyes outlined by long eyelashes. He was attractive and in that sense Clove knew she was lucky. So what if the brown eyes that could melt every woman in a courtroom also stripped her of her self-confidence?

"Sauce for the meatballs and pasta." Clove replied happily.

"Oh." The look was there again. The raised eyebrows, the pursed lips, the disapproving eyes. "I wanted pot roast."

"So cook it yourself." She shrugged, stirring the sauce again.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm serious, Colton. You _never _cook. It's always me." Clove waved the spoon around, splattering red spots on the pristine white tiled kitchen walls.

"You're damn lucky that didn't hit my suit. I work an exhausting job everyday to fund this household, the least you could do is cook something decent every once in a while and not insult my hard work." Colton frowned at her and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I work hard too, you know. I still manage to cook and clean and watch three hours of court TV with you a night." She plopped the spoon back into the pot and copied his stance.

"Don't make me laugh, Clove. My job is far more tiring than yours is. I work more cases, sweetheart." He barked out a laugh, and Clove struggled to believe that only two days ago he had offered to fly her to Paris because she looked beautiful in a new dress.

"Whatever, Colton. I'll cook you a pot roast tomorrow." Clove sighed, defeated.

"Thank you darling." He crossed the room and kissed her sweetly on the mouth before leaving the kitchen to go and change out of his expensive work clothes.

Sometimes, when Colton showered her with complements and told everyone how incredible she was, it was easy for Clove to pretend that everything was good and right between them. But it _wasn't_. She loved him and she knew it, but a larger part of her wanted to just break free. To be rid of the _yes Colton_'s, the _I'm sorry Colton_'s and the _Please don't look at me like that, Colton_'s. To get rid of the expensive dresses and glitzy jewellery and just slump down on her couch with a can of beer and some guy who's name she didn't know. Loving Colton was the easy part- being the person he had made her was the hard part. Because he had made her, he made her known. Every time she walked through the courthouse people would point and whisper about her glamorous life with New York's top defence attorney. Why couldn't _she _feel like that all of the time, and not just sixty percent of it?

Colton came out of the bedroom in pyjama pants and his button up shirt.

"Where's my shirt?" He asked.

"Wherever you left it, I guess." Clove shrugged.

"Don't be rude Clove, just find me one please." He said, somewhat impatiently.

"I'm busy."

"I don't care." He was in a bad mood, and now so was she.

"Colton, I haven't devoted my whole life to _you_. I have a job, I have a life, and I have things that I want to do other than help you find some damn shirt." Clove snapped at him.

"You didn't seem to mind the shirt when you were ripping it off me last night." He smirked an infuriating smirk that made her want to kiss him then kill him.

"Shut up!" Was her clever response.

"Just help me look." Colton rolled his eyes at her.

"No." Clove straightened and stiffened at the same time.

"Come _on_!" Colton exhaled through his teeth.

"I said no, _Colts_." She said, knowing that he hated it when she called him that.

"Oh for goodness' sake Clove, get off our high horse and help me for once!" He tugged on his platinum blonde hair in annoyance, ruffling it.

"Are you for real?" Clove never yelled at Colton like that, _never_. "_I'm _the one who cooks for you every night, _I'm _the one that gets your fancy ass clothes dry cleaned, and _I'm _the one who has to put up with you when you're in one of your shitty little rich boy moods!"

"I want my quiet, nice Clove back! Where's this fiery girl come from?" Colton responded, fire in his eyes. It died out as Clove wanted to scream '_She's been here all along!_'

"Look, I'm sorry. You're right, you always are." He walked towards her and held her tightly to his chest. "You're beautiful and I love you. If the world was falling apart I'd want you right beside me, because you are going to make the most beautiful bride."

"Thank you." Clove sniffed. A breakthrough was exactly what she needed to stop herself from snapping.

"I'll go find a different shirt." He said, and Clove watched him as he walked away.

"Clove?" Colton called from their bedroom. "Be a dear and wash my silver suit for tomorrow's trial. You know the one I'm talking about."

"Yes, Colton." She called back obediently, and something inside of her broke. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her white IPhone, a birthday present from her forever loving fiancé. She opened her contacts list and scrolled down to the number that she had obtained two days ago. He picked up on the fourth ring.

"Cato King, NYPD." His voice felt warm and familiar, even though she didn't know him.

"Um, it's Clove." She stuttered quietly. If Colton were to hear what she was about so say he would throw her out onto the street.

"How did I know you'd call?" She could practically hear the grin in his voice.

"You're physic?" Clove wondered aloud, grinning for herself.

"Why of course." Cato laughed, and it sounded natural.

"What am I thinking right now?"

"You're thinking about how amazingly attractive I am." Cato said, and if she could see him he would have winked.

"Whatever. Actually, Cato…I think I'm ready for that date now."

**I'm thinking about making this longer, around 10-20 chapters (I have no idea how long it would be). It would be the first time I've changed a oneshot into a full length fic. What do you think? Should I make it longer or leave it as 3 or 4 chapters?**


	3. The Date

**So, I've decided to make this longer! It won't be as long as I Fell for Your Smile, it'll more be the length of Things Change People Change. I'm also renaming it 'Gods and Monsters' after the song by Lana Del Rey.**

To say that Cato was surprised to get Clove's call would have been an understatement. In fact, saying that it was an understatement was an understatement itself. He had almost dropped his pizza box on the floor when he call came through; after finding out that she was engaged, he didn't think she would _actually _call him.

"Who was that?" Finnick asked Cato as he arranged to meet her for dinner. So what if he had already eaten half a pepperoni pizza?

"Clove." He responded, pulling his shirt off and searching through piles of clean laundry for a new one.

"That one from the coffee shop?" Marvel asked doubtfully.

"Well, how many girls named 'Clove' do you know?" Cato rolled his eyes at him, settling on a light blue polo shirt. The three of them had the same night off each week, and when none of them had plans they would order takeout and watch Jackie Chan movies that were older than they themselves were.

"What did she want?" Finnick asked, shoving Marvel's face into a couch cushion.

"A date." Cato grabbed his keys and wallet and pocketed them. "I'm meeting her in ten."

"A date? With you? Why?" Marvel asked, his face still squashed into the couch.

"Wait one second." Finnick stood up, discarding his empty plate. "You're just going to leave us alone…In _your _apartment?"

"Pretty much. Just make sure you lock up properly and get out by midnight." Cato shrugged and walked through his apartment door, pushing it shut behind him in one smooth motion.

…

When he saw her, his heart skipped a beat. She was waiting for him on the curb outside of the restaurant, some Chinese place that had popped into his head, wearing a black business pant suit with black stilettos. He _really _hadn't expected her to call. Colton Hughes had more sway and charismatic abilities than any official the city had ever seen. He knew what to say, when to say it, how to win a case without even breaking a sweat. The few times Cato had testified against one of Colton's clients, the cross-examination had been brutal. It had almost slaughtered him each time. Colton Hughes was his name, reduced sentences and acquittals were definitely his game. And apparently, when it came to keeping the women in his life happy, he wasn't so smooth.

"Hey." Cato greeted Clove with a warm smile. "Want to go inside?"

She hesitated before nodding, no doubt questioning whether she should really be there.

Once they were seated, she could finally look him in the eye.

"So." Cato glanced at her over the top of his menu. "Want to tell me why you're here and not at home with your golden boy?"

Clove rubbed her temples and sighed.

"We had a fight."

"What, so you had a fight and want to hook up with someone else?" Cato asked, frowning slightly. Hook-ups had never really been his thing.

"No, that's not why I'm here. I…I'm starting to want out."

Cato raised an eyebrow at her, silently telling her to go on.

"I've spent so much time telling myself that he loves me more than anything so that should cancel out his more…_sharper _words. But it doesn't- it just doesn't. I'm tired of him using me for status, for the popularity vote, so that he doesn't have to cook his own dinner and do his own damn laundry. He hurts me every day with the way that he speaks to me and then he buys me flowers and I'm gone hook line and sinker. I can't keep doing it to myself. I can't keep going back to him." Clove answered, but before taking a deep breath to compose herself.

"So you've left him then?" Cato asked, hoping that he didn't sound too hopeful.

"Not exactly. I left him a note saying that I was going to Katniss' house and then I just kind of…Walked out." Clove said, ordering a glass of water when the waiter came to take their orders.

"Are you not eating?" The waiter asked politely, but before she could shake her head Cato answered for her.

"She'll have sweet and sour pork with a side of spring rolls. We both will. Oh, and I'll take a soda."

Clove glared at him once the waiter had left with their orders.

"What?" Cato asked innocently.

"I'm not hungry." She said bluntly.

"Bullshit. Every girl's hungry after a break up. Even if it technically wasn't a break up. Now, tell me about yourself." He shot her a half smirk, and she smiled back faintly.

"What do you want to know?" Clove asked, tapping a French manicure nailed finger against her chin.

"Hm…How about why you wanted to become a prosecutor? Yeah, we'll get down to the personal question later." Cato said as the waiter brought them their drinks.

"It was dad's job." Clove's smile grew at the mention of him. "He loved it. He always called him the modern day super hero, helping to put the bad guys away. I used to love the stories he would tell me, then when I was twelve he…He died. Shot on the street by the son of some guy he had gotten convicted. A life sentence. His stories had inspired me and I _knew _that I had to make him proud of me for following my dreams- _our _dreams. The modern day superhero. So I worked hard, I got into Harvard. I graduated, I move to New York to be with Colton and I got a great job. I want him to be proud of everything that I've achieved under his name."

"That's pretty incredible." Cato smiled at her before sipping his soda.

"What about you? Why a New York Cop?" Clove asked, grinning at him.

"Well, my real dream is to be a detective. My exam's coming up real soon and if I pass I'll be assigned a partner and cases to work on that don't involve muggings and 24/7 liquor store thefts." Cato laughed, and his heart jumped when Clove joined in.

"But _why_?"

"Because I hate it when other people think that they can do whatever they want and don't care about how it affects others. That old lady that got mugged, she'll never leave the house alone again. That liquor store owner, he cried when he had a gun shoved his face. That kid who got his bike stolen, he walks five miles to school now. It's not right when people push others around just because they think that they can." Their food arrived, and they dug in.

"That's amazing. So's the food." Clove smirked as she speared a square of pork with her fork before popping it into her mouth. "Mmm."

"Okay, next question." Cato bit into one of his two spring rolls. "What's your favourite crime drama?"

"_Blue Bloods_. Every time." Clove answered almost instantly. "What about you?"

"_NCIS_. If I died watching it, I'd die happy." Cato answered, and Clove rolled her eyes at him.

"You're so predictable."

"Okay, fine. Favourite song?"

"Anything by Emeli Sande."

"Ugh, boring." Cato pretended to yawn. "The Killers or leave."

"They're decent but when I'm stressed, which is, like, _always_, songs by Emeli Sande relax the hell out of me." Clove shrugged, taking a swig from her water.

"Favourite film?" Cato asked. Clove was more fun than he had expected her to be. The whole 'successful lawyer' thing had kind of had him feeling sceptical.

"_The Lion King_." Clove blushed, expecting him to laugh. He didn't. Colton had.

"I loved that when I was a kid." He answered, smiling genuinely.

"Yeah, my dad used to put it on for me. What about you?"

"_Remember the Titans_ is a classic." He said after few seconds.

"That movie is incredible." Clove grinned, and they talked for a few minutes about the genius of Denzel Washington.

Nobody had ever gotten to know Clove that, especially not in one night. It made her fell special and loved, without the gifts and fancy compliments that followed the rows. It brought out a part of her that she rarely seen and it made her feel _alive_. So when Cato asked her back to his apartment, she didn't refuse.


	4. The Morning After

**I don't own The Hunger Games.**

When Cato woke up the next morning he rolled over, only to find that there was nothing in the space next to him but the lingering smell of expensive perfume.

"Clove?" He called out to the empty room. It was eight thirty on a Sunday morning, there was no way she was working yet. He himself didn't start for another hour.

"In here!" She called back, and it sounded to Cato like she was in the kitchen. He stood up and pulled on his jeans before going to join her at his small kitchen table. She was sat, wearing the same suit as the previous day, nursing a cup of coffee and staring at it with dead eyes.

"Hey." Cato slid into the chair opposite her, but she barely looked up at him.

"Are you okay?" He asked after a few minutes of Clove blankly and silently staring at her coffee cup.

"No." She muttered. "I just cheated on my fiancé."

"Yeah, but your fiancé's an ass." Cato shrugged, grabbing himself an apple out of the fruit bowl. He pushed it towards her, but she pushed it back with a frown.

"That doesn't matter. You see this?" Clove held up her left hand and showed Cato the sparkling diamond encrusted ring. "This means that I'm supposed to always be faithful to him."

"No, it's a sparkly metal band that's handcuffing you to that asshole for the rest of your life." Cato snorted as he devoured the apple.

"Don't talk about him like that." Clove winced, running her finger over the ring almost absentmindedly.

"Why not? It's what you told me. Or do you not remember spending forty five minutes ranting about what a shitty guy he is and how you should leave him?" Cato snapped, standing up from the table. He ran a hand through his messy hair as he watched Clove, who still hadn't really moved all that much.

"I'm allowed to say it. I'm his wife." She shrugged slightly.

"Not yet you're not." He sat back down in his chair and reached for Clove's hand. She didn't pull it away. "Come on Clove; get out while you still can."

"It's not that simple, Cato. I thought you might understand that by now." She finally looked up at him. Her eyes weren't red or anything like that. They were still blue, only now they were dead and emotionless. To Cato, that was way worse than crimson eyes and a puffed up face.

"I don't understand." Cato dragged his hand back across the table slowly.

"He _made _me. My teachers Harvard loved me as soon as they knew they could link me to him. He got me my first job interview. People know my name because of him, the convicted fear because of what _he _tells them. My career will suffer a huge blow if I just get up and leave him." Clove explained, and when she looked at him hopelessly Cato found himself wishing for the dead eyed stare again.

"So you're choosing your career over your happiness?" Cato sighed, blowing hair from his forehead.

"My career _is _my happiness!" Clove threw her hands up in the air, almost knocking her practically untouched coffee over.

"It doesn't have to be like that, Clove." Cato watched as she stood up and buttoned her jacket. "It's never too late to change things."

"Yes it is." She whispered, picking her purse up from the floor next to her chair.

"What would your father want for you?"

She walked out of his apartment and she didn't look back.

…

"Knock knock!"

"Come in, Colton." Clove rubbed her temples wearily and glanced up when he walked in. Her office wasn't anything special- the walls were blue, the floors were mahogany. One painting hung opposite her desk, of a tree in summer time. It was some fancy artistic gift from her mother that Clove had never quite understood. One her desk, almost buried under all her paper work, were three framed pictures. One of her and Colton, one of her brothers, sister and parents, and one of just her father.

"How's my favourite girl?" He pecked her on the cheek before sitting down in the chair across from her desk.

"I'm good." Clove answered, feeling guilty already. He _did _love her, she was sure of it. It was just hard for him to show it sometimes.

"I haven't seen you since yesterday. I had to wash my own suit." Colton said, frowning slightly.

"Like I said, I spent the night at Katniss'." Clove said, keeping her eyes on the documents she was signing.

"Well, you could have told me before you left. I got worried when I didn't see you in the house." Colton said, glancing around the office.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to scare you or anything." Clove smiled at him, satisfied with the knowledge that he was definitely in love with her.

"Well you'll be better next time, I'm sure." Colton said, the corners of his lips turning downwards. "I think we should see our families before the wedding."

"It's in four days." Clove pointed out. "My family live in Boston."

"Relax, they flew in an hour and a half ago. I got them on an earlier flight" Colton assured her. So while she was half dressed in another man's apartment, her whole family had been flying to New York for wedding prep. Great.

"I told them to stop by tonight at seven and that you'll have dinner ready for them all, my parents included." Colton smiled brightly at her.

"Colton, do you not think that maybe you should have checked with me first? I was planning on working late tonight. There's this huge case coming up and-"

"Clove, they're our family. I think you can sacrifice one night of work to cook for them." Colton said, giving her his disapproving look. "I won't be home until eight, so keep my food in the oven and then you can reheat it for me."

"So you get to work and I don't?" Clove frowned as she leaned back in her chair. Colton rolled his eyes as he stood up.

"I'm the man of the hours and the top wage earner. It's expected of me to work whilst you tend to the house and the in-laws. You know, you shouldn't work at all. I make more than enough for you to stay at home. Maybe then dinner would actually be ready by the time I get home." He said, frowning back.

"I'm not quitting my job, Colton. It's the one thing you don't get a say in." Clove sighed, throwing down her pen.

"What's been wrong with you recently? I've never seen you quite so…Rebellious." Colton narrowed his eyes at her slightly, as if he was looking closely for a physical change.

"Maybe I've grown a backbone and gotten my own opinions." Clove muttered under her breath.

"Speak up, Clove. Nobody likes a mouse." Colton picked up his briefcase and walked towards the door.

"So help me if you ever have to face me in a courtroom, asshole!" Clove snapped as he walked away. She slipped her high heeled shoe off and threw it at him, but he shut the door just in time and it clattered to the floor again. She looked at the stacks of paper on her desk that needed dealing with that evening, and did something completely out of character. She burst into tears.


	5. The Family

**Once again I've broken my laptop, so you're going to have to bare with me whilst I type from my phone. I don't own The Hunger Games.**

The only wword for Clove to describe her mother's visits with was_hell_. She arrived a half hour early woth Clove's siblings trudging along behind her and as soon as she arrived she did nothing but criticize her and praise Colton. So when she walked through the door early as Clove was waiting on the beef she had put in yhe oven to finish cooking, it was all she could do to fake a smile.

"Mom!" She greeted, smiling tensly.

"Good evening, Clove. Where's that incredible husband of yours?" Her mother Loretta was 51 years old with shoulder length perfectly shaped hair, and when she kissed Clove on the cheek she smelled of Chanel perfume.

"He's working. He'll be back in about an hour." Clove shrugged.

"Don't shrug Clove, it's unladylike." Clove's blonde haired green eyed twenty six year old sister Chantelle scolded as she walked into the room. She gave her a quick peck on the ccheek as Clove rolled her eyes and went to sit at the table.

"She's driving us insane." Jamie, the third oldest sibling at age twenty two, greeted Clove with hug. His blonde hair rubbed against her cheek and Clove sighed contentedly. He had always been her favourite.

"Like seriously, help." Clove's youngest brother Theo was nineteen, and the only other child with black hair and blue eyes.

"Just go right through. Colton will be here soon. I know how much you love him." Clove laughed and waved them through to the dining room.

"Not as much as you do." Theo winked as they made their way through the door. Clove sighed again as she made her way back to the kitchen. Theo had no idea how wrong he was. At first, Clove had felt guilty about spending the night at Cato's. However as the day had gone one, she found herself feeling less guilty and more...Free. It was as if she had proved to herself that she could break the hold Colton had on her, the one that she should never have allowed him to put on her. She turned the oven off, just as the doorbell sounded again.

"Good evening, Mr and Mrs Hughes." Clove greeted them with a smile as she opened the door.

"Evening, Clove." Arthur Hughes had been one of the most successful judges of his era until he had retired at yhe age of 50. Now at 56 he was graying, but Clove could easily tell where he got his strictness from.

'It's lovely to see you, Clove." Marie Hughes smiled at her. The two had come to an understanding- They would neither like or dislike each other, nor would they spend enough time together to see if either option could work out. ClClove's own mother may pretend to be every inch the classy,, rich, elegant older woman, but there was nothing pretend about the classy but cold forty nine year old mother of Colton Hughes.

"Is our son home?" Arthur asked as he stepped ovet the threshold.

"Not yet, but if you'd like to go through to the dining room he should be in about forty five minutes." Clove gestured to the door.

"Thank you." Marie nodded her head slightly and linked her arm through her husband's to walk through the doors with him.

...

Once dinner had been served, the grilling began.

"I take it you have everything planned out?" Clove's mother asked her as they ate their roast beef and vegetables.

"Of course. The rehearsal's on Wednesday, we'll be married on Thursday. " Clove explained, pushing her potatoes around her plate. She wasn't really hungry.

"I know it may seem like a silly question, but I never quite know with you my dear." Loretta smiled fondly at Clove, but she wasn't all that fond of Clove until she met Colton. Impressing his parents was just part of her classy woman act.

"Colton's not too good with his planning either." Narie sniffes, looking at her future daughter-in-law with disdain.

"Oh trust me, he's organized." Clove shot back through gritted teeth. Before anyone could reply, a key was heard in the lock.

"I'm home, and I've called the police!" Colton thundered into the room, looking every inch the angry millionaire defence attorney he was. "Clove, did you not notice the spray paint on the side of the building? !"

"I didn't notice it either dear." Marie stood up to hug her son. "Don't be hard on Clove, it probably happened while we were all in here."

"Whatever." Colton murmed as he accepted hus from Clove's mother and sister before shaking his father's and Clove's brothers' hands.

"They know who I am and they said they'll send their best in the next couple of minutes. Heat my dinner up for me, Clove." So she did, and when the doorbell rang for a third time she dutifully answered it.

"Oh crap." She hissed when she came face to face with Cato King.

"Clove? I didn't- Officer King, reporting for duty." Cato interrupted his own sentence when Colton walked up to the door.

"Officer." Clove winced as Colton greeted Cato and shook his hand.

"Um, you reported a 312? Vandalism?" Cato looked ad flustered as Clove felt.

"Yes. I take it your partner is assessing the crime scene?" When Cato nodded, Colton pushed past him to get outside. "You had bettet nail this son of a bitch. I want him locked ul.

"If that's how he reacts to vandalism..." Cato shuddered once Colton was out of earshot. "I think I could take him though. "

"What are you doing here?!" Clove snapped, thumping him on the shoulder.

"Hey! You just assaulted an officer of the law!" Cato smirked.

This is serious! _Never _shake hands with guy whose fiancé you banged!" Clove pushed him, and he took a step backwards.

"Relax, Clo. I didn't know you lived here. I was only responding to a special call in. They told me I was the best one for the job, which is ironic really." Cato shoved his hands in his pockets as the sound of Colton yelling drifted through the door.

"Keep your voice down!" Clove hissed.

"Would you freaking calm down? I'm answering a call, not confessing passionate love for you. I'm not what you want and we both know it." Cato said, and for a second he looked vulnerable.

"Cato..."

"Forget it. I need to get outside- there's a wild criminal with a can of spray paint on the loose." He turned and left, and Clove thought of how screwed she was as she watched him go.


End file.
